WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 We're going to, at this time, read a verse found 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:06.719 in Psalms. So would you join me in Psalm chapter 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.800 34 and verse 8? A few weeks ago, I preached out 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:18.640 of verse 1. I preached out of verse 1, I will 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.699 bless the Lord at all times, remember, and his 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:22.839 praise shall continually be in my mouth. And 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:29.339 so in that message, gave some context for David's 00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:32.920 writing of Psalm 34, and I felt to take it a 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:34.780 step further in the spirit, and I want to read 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:38.539 this one short verse that says, Oh, taste and 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:43.780 see. Someone say, taste and see that the Lord 00:00:43.780 --> 00:00:50.920 is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.240 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.960 is the man. who trust in him. And I want to just, 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:02.600 I want to speak here for a few moments on that 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.620 thought, taste and see. Taste and see. Someone 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:09.819 say, in Jesus' name. Come on, let's say, in Jesus' 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:13.760 name. Say, God, speak to me. Speak to me today. 00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:16.939 Amen. You may be seated in the presence of God. 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:26.620 Every so often, my wife will tell me, usually 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:32.349 from a... across the house to close my eyes because 00:01:32.349 --> 00:01:37.530 she wants me to taste something, but she doesn't 00:01:37.530 --> 00:01:41.689 want me to see it. She says, close your eyes. 00:01:42.030 --> 00:01:45.650 I want you to taste this. And every time she 00:01:45.650 --> 00:01:47.829 does that, I get a little nervous. I'm not going 00:01:47.829 --> 00:01:51.829 to lie because I don't like surprises. I don't 00:01:51.829 --> 00:01:53.709 know if anyone has ever done that with you. Just 00:01:53.709 --> 00:01:57.769 close your eyes. I get a little nervous. I go, 00:01:57.870 --> 00:02:03.170 why? Why? She said, I want you to taste something. 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:07.650 Just close your eyes. And then if she senses 00:02:07.650 --> 00:02:10.530 a little hesitation in me, she'll usually ask 00:02:10.530 --> 00:02:14.490 me, do you trust me? Do you trust me? And I'm 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:19.449 like, well, yes, I trust you, but I still don't 00:02:19.449 --> 00:02:21.849 like not knowing what you're about to put in 00:02:21.849 --> 00:02:26.289 my mouth. He said, do you trust me? Yes, I do. 00:02:26.389 --> 00:02:29.650 So I'll close my eyes. Sometimes I kind of squint 00:02:29.650 --> 00:02:32.789 a little bit. But, you know, to be fair to the 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:35.009 process, I'll close them all the way. But nine 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:38.710 out of ten times, nine out of ten, which means 00:02:38.710 --> 00:02:42.189 the majority of the time I like whatever it is 00:02:42.189 --> 00:02:47.930 that I'm tasting. And the reason is because my 00:02:47.930 --> 00:02:53.030 wife knows my taste. She knows my taste. She 00:02:53.030 --> 00:02:57.710 knows what I like. And so 99 .9 % of the time, 00:02:57.810 --> 00:03:01.569 it's something I'm going to like because she 00:03:01.569 --> 00:03:06.090 knows my taste. And she wouldn't put something 00:03:06.090 --> 00:03:08.830 in my mouth. She wouldn't have me taste something 00:03:08.830 --> 00:03:13.909 if she knew that I wasn't going to enjoy it or 00:03:13.909 --> 00:03:17.229 need it. And I want you to know today, church, 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:21.719 that God knows your taste. Somebody say amen 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:26.900 for that. I said he knows your taste. But more 00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:30.639 than that, he knows what, not just what you like, 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:36.180 amen, but he knows what you need. He knows what 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:37.740 you need. Someone say, he knows what I need. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:41.979 He knows what you need, what you delight in. 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:49.759 He knows what will change your life even. He 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:54.139 knows what will, if you taste it, make you more 00:03:54.139 --> 00:04:00.900 like him. The only question is, will you trust 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:06.180 him? In the same way that my wife would say, 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.419 close your eyes and ask, do you trust me? That's 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:12.740 the same question that God will often ask us 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:17.750 in those. moments of uncertainty and those moments 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:20.910 of experience, moments of challenge and trial 00:04:20.910 --> 00:04:24.769 and tribulation where God is saying, will you 00:04:24.769 --> 00:04:28.410 trust me? Because what you're tasting right now 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:33.610 may not seem like it's what you need or may not 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:36.129 seem like it's going to produce something in 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:40.490 your life. But if you trust me and taste fully 00:04:40.490 --> 00:04:43.629 what it is that I am putting into your life, 00:04:43.850 --> 00:04:46.980 then... you will see the goodness of the Lord. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.920 Amen. In this psalm, David invites us to experience 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:57.980 the goodness of God. And he does so through a 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:05.279 series of blind taste tests. In the natural, 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:13.459 we usually see before we taste. That's why my... 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:18.500 Example makes me uncomfortable when I'm asked 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:23.540 to close my eyes because we like to first eat 00:05:23.540 --> 00:05:28.500 with our eyes before our mouths. Ain't that right? 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.100 We eat with our eyes first. And how many of you 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:35.180 know that sometimes our eyes are bigger than 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:40.220 our stomachs? Amen. We order bigger than what 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:43.509 we can actually eat. Say, I am hungry today. 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:47.709 Don't hold back. Fill up my plate till it's running 00:05:47.709 --> 00:05:52.569 over. Right? Because we eat with our eyes first. 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:58.050 And then we taste it. And with our eyes, we already 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:00.170 start imagining what it's going to taste like 00:06:00.170 --> 00:06:06.970 and what that experience will be. But David flips 00:06:06.970 --> 00:06:13.220 the order. Flips it around. Because in the spirit, 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:20.660 you taste before you see. In the natural, you 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:24.699 see before you taste. But in the spirit, you 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:31.279 taste before you see. I won't dwell on this particular 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:33.759 thought very long, but in theological terms, 00:06:34.019 --> 00:06:38.339 theologically speaking, this reverses the order. 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:42.750 initiated by Adam and Eve, whom we read in Genesis, 00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:47.509 first saw that the tree was good for food and 00:06:47.509 --> 00:06:52.410 that it was pleasant to the eyes, and then they 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:58.149 ate. David reverses, and it's God's will to reverse 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:02.269 that order so that we are no longer led purely 00:07:02.269 --> 00:07:06.110 by what we see, what is pleasant to the eyes, 00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:10.019 what is appealing to the eyes, our natural sight, 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:15.279 our physical senses, but that we walk by faith 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.620 and not by sight. Amen, somebody. And that we 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:25.860 not be led by what our senses, what our vision 00:07:25.860 --> 00:07:29.199 is telling us. I'm talking about our physical 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:35.680 vision. You could almost say that Eve and Adam 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.949 would have never. fallen into that trap of sin, 00:07:39.110 --> 00:07:45.550 had they not been so eye or physically led in 00:07:45.550 --> 00:07:50.009 their sight, had they remembered what God told 00:07:50.009 --> 00:07:53.589 them, they would have not allowed the appeal 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:57.629 of that fruit. But God wants to reverse that 00:07:57.629 --> 00:08:01.629 order today, and he wants us to taste, to fully 00:08:01.629 --> 00:08:06.350 experience his goodness. Now, I'm going to be... 00:08:06.699 --> 00:08:11.160 talking today about the goodness of God. But 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:16.660 I don't want to approach it from the usual way 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:20.319 that we do when we speak of his goodness. We 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:23.759 talk usually about when we hear that word good, 00:08:23.899 --> 00:08:28.680 we think of like just good things that we think 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.720 are good. Like we talk about, you know, good 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:34.379 times and good things that are happening. And 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:39.139 I want you, Today, with the help of God, with 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:42.539 his anointing, to understand that the goodness 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:48.259 of God takes on different forms. Sometimes in 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:51.700 your life, you're experiencing the goodness and 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:55.580 the richness of God, though your life may be 00:08:55.580 --> 00:09:00.340 looking contrary to that, though what you're 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:03.139 feeling may not appear to be the goodness of 00:09:03.139 --> 00:09:07.080 God. But in fact it is. And I hope I can prove 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:10.100 that for you today. For you to understand that 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:14.879 when we say God is good all the time and all 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:19.539 the time God is good that doesn't just mean when 00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:24.440 I'm feeling good. It doesn't just mean when things 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:30.279 look good. But God is good. David penned this 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:34.590 psalm in the wake of one of his lowest moments, 00:09:34.769 --> 00:09:43.230 when he had pretended to be insane to avoid death 00:09:43.230 --> 00:09:48.610 at the hands of his enemies. It was a humiliating 00:09:48.610 --> 00:09:56.470 moment for him. One of his darkest hours. But 00:09:56.470 --> 00:10:00.190 out of that moment came a revelation of the goodness 00:10:00.190 --> 00:10:08.090 of God. and how God's goodness is tasted, not 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:14.429 with our physical tongue, but through faith and 00:10:14.429 --> 00:10:20.269 through trusting in him, even before we fully 00:10:20.269 --> 00:10:26.970 understand what God is doing in our life. I hope 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:30.169 to convey and inject into someone's faith today, 00:10:30.269 --> 00:10:34.970 someone's spirit today, that you can taste and 00:10:34.970 --> 00:10:40.049 experience the goodness of God even without fully 00:10:40.049 --> 00:10:44.970 understanding all that God is doing in your life 00:10:44.970 --> 00:10:51.909 and why things are happening the way that they 00:10:51.909 --> 00:10:59.759 are. When I'm blind, taste something. It takes 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:04.899 me a minute or two to identify the flavors in 00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:09.179 my mouth. How many of you, you know, when you're 00:11:09.179 --> 00:11:11.679 taking a blind taste, it's like, you got to chew 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.019 it a little bit. What is that? Is that cinnamon? 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.539 No. Is that salt? You try to identify, what am 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:24.159 I tasting? It tastes like this. It might be that. 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:27.259 You're trying to figure out what the ingredients, 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:30.580 the flavors are in your mouth. And when I do 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:33.360 this, I often don't know what I'm tasting. And 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.600 sometimes I still don't know. It tastes good, 00:11:35.740 --> 00:11:39.659 but what is it? And my wife will tell me. She'll 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:41.919 show me the box or she'll tell me what the ingredients 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.299 are. This is what you just ate. Oh, okay. Well, 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.460 I like that. Give me more of it. Someone will 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:54.019 say, hey, man, I want more. Where that came from. 00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:56.600 I don't know what it is. I can't even pronounce 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:02.679 it, but I like it. I want more of it. I wonder 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:04.440 what would happen if we took that same approach 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:08.720 with God. God, I don't understand it all. I don't 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.679 have it figured out yet. I haven't quite computed 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:15.940 and dissected everything that you're doing, but 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:18.700 I know that if you're allowing it to happen, 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:22.740 it must be for my good. And it must be for your 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:25.600 good pleasure in my life. It must have a purpose. 00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:28.820 In the spirit, we don't know what we've tasted 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:32.639 until later sometimes. And I really want to develop 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:35.320 this point. And don't worry, I've got like three 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:36.600 or four points today. If I don't get through 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:38.440 them all, then I'll have to come back to this. 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:42.720 But I really want to develop this, this idea, 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:48.919 this biblical idea that we don't often know what 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:52.429 we've tasted until later. We don't often realize 00:12:52.429 --> 00:12:56.330 the goodness of God until we have made it across 00:12:56.330 --> 00:13:01.870 the other side. Until we've lived to tell the 00:13:01.870 --> 00:13:05.610 story. Until we say like the psalmist, if it 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:10.190 had not been for the Lord that was on our side. 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:14.850 You don't always have that revelation when you're 00:13:14.850 --> 00:13:18.009 in the middle of it. You don't know that you're 00:13:18.009 --> 00:13:21.009 tasting something good because All you taste 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:26.350 in the moment is bitter. It's sour. It's hurt, 00:13:26.470 --> 00:13:29.649 pain, frustration. But when God brings you all 00:13:29.649 --> 00:13:32.789 the way through, you say, oh, like the psalmist, 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:37.429 it was good for me. Hallelujah. I didn't know 00:13:37.429 --> 00:13:39.950 that I needed it. I didn't know that God was, 00:13:40.049 --> 00:13:43.350 his goodness was, it was actually his goodness. 00:13:43.409 --> 00:13:47.769 I wasn't being punished. I was being promoted. 00:13:50.929 --> 00:13:54.970 Promotion in the kingdom comes wrapped in trial 00:13:54.970 --> 00:13:57.549 and in suffering and pain sometimes. In fact, 00:13:57.549 --> 00:14:02.309 oftentimes it does. But what goodness was David 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:07.190 tasting? We have to look at the prior verses. 00:14:08.990 --> 00:14:13.350 So we're looking at Psalm 34. He talks about 00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:16.950 the goodness, but we have to take a few steps 00:14:16.950 --> 00:14:22.059 back. Rewind the video. to see what was it that 00:14:22.059 --> 00:14:26.740 gave him this revelation. Well, in the prior 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:30.799 verses, he shows us the ingredients of God's 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:35.559 goodness. And God wants us to taste these same 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:41.539 ingredients today. Let us look at the first ingredient 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:47.259 of the goodness of God, which is the goodness 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:56.870 of a God. who hears. Amen. The goodness, he tasted 00:14:56.870 --> 00:15:01.129 the goodness, and we need to taste the goodness 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:05.690 of a God who hears. Let me tell you that God 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:12.090 is not deaf. He's not hard of hearing. David 00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:16.990 said in verse four, in this low moment, in this 00:15:16.990 --> 00:15:22.000 embarrassing moment, In this dark moment where 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:28.799 he cowered from responsibility, where he shrunk 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:36.080 from courage, in that moment, he said, I sought 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:43.940 the Lord, and he heard me. I learned how to pray 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:49.820 like I had never prayed before. I learned how 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:55.679 to call on God in a way like I had never called 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:00.919 on him at any other time in my life. And so David 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:03.960 comes to this realization on the other side of 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:07.559 his trial that the goodness of God begins with 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:12.639 God's willingness and his desire to listen to 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:18.019 us when we call on him. I think most of us today 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:21.720 believe in prayer. Somebody say amen. We believe 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:25.120 in prayer. And that belief is grounded in the 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:30.039 truth of God's goodness to hear us when we call 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:35.240 on his name. He hears the cry of the desperate, 00:16:35.460 --> 00:16:40.120 the poor in spirit, the humble, the heartbroken, 00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:45.799 the disenfranchised, the discouraged. When we 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:51.659 call on the Lord, he hears us. Prayer, someone 00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:55.259 say prayer. Prayer is your connection to God. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:01.019 It's your 24 -hour hotline. It's your way of 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:04.460 communing and communicating with your creator. 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.339 But I want you to understand something about 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:11.779 prayer today. Prayer is not simply or just for 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:14.970 the perfect. Prayer is not for the polished or 00:17:14.970 --> 00:17:18.930 the pedigree, but prayer is an open line that 00:17:18.930 --> 00:17:22.650 whosoever will call on that name in the day of 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:28.970 trouble. Hallelujah. God will hear your prayer. 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:33.329 See, what I like about David's revelation is 00:17:33.329 --> 00:17:38.509 that in his lowest of lows, in his darkest of 00:17:38.509 --> 00:17:43.480 moments, he found out that even then, Even in 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.619 that pain and regret where he was less than the 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:49.980 man that he ought to be, that God still heard 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:54.180 his prayer. Hallelujah. I don't have to climb 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.779 to the top of the mountain for God to hear me. 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:01.259 I don't have to climb to one of these holy mountains 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:05.740 for God to hear me. But I can be even in my most... 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:10.440 Oh, God, my most hideous time, even in my most 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:14.059 embarrassing, humiliating, even in the hole that 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:17.390 I am in, even in David's most... Hallelujah. 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:20.829 Humiliating moment. He was whispering prayer. 00:18:21.049 --> 00:18:25.210 Lord, I've dug myself into a hole. Lord, I put 00:18:25.210 --> 00:18:28.269 myself where I am right now. I am living the 00:18:28.269 --> 00:18:31.930 consequences of my own decisions. But I know 00:18:31.930 --> 00:18:36.130 that you still hear me when I call. So I need 00:18:36.130 --> 00:18:41.529 you right now to save me, to deliver me, and 00:18:41.529 --> 00:18:49.190 to rescue me. And so David was whispering these 00:18:49.190 --> 00:18:53.150 prayers under his breath as he was pretending 00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:55.710 madness in front of his enemies in order to escape 00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:59.109 death. He was whispering, God, Lord, if you get 00:18:59.109 --> 00:19:01.089 me out of this one, I'm going to serve you like 00:19:01.089 --> 00:19:03.970 I had. God, if you will hear this one way, if 00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:06.329 you never answer another prayer in my life, God, 00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:09.430 if you will just hear this one, God. God! If 00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:12.109 you will just answer me this one last time, Lord, 00:19:12.250 --> 00:19:14.950 I'll pay it forward. I'll make it up to you, 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:17.869 God. Lord, just get me out of this thing that 00:19:17.869 --> 00:19:21.630 I have created. Get me out of this situation. 00:19:22.309 --> 00:19:24.849 Oh, the enemy wants you to believe, my friend, 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:27.450 that your prayers have no power, that you'll 00:19:27.450 --> 00:19:30.190 never get an answer. But I want you to know that 00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:33.990 prayer changes things. I want you to know that 00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:36.890 God's not looking for a professional prayer. 00:19:37.150 --> 00:19:40.750 He's not looking for. a classical prayer. He's 00:19:40.750 --> 00:19:44.369 not looking for an educated prayer. He's looking 00:19:44.369 --> 00:19:50.450 for an honest prayer. A real prayer. A prayer 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:53.430 that says, God, I need you. Come on, somebody 00:19:53.430 --> 00:19:57.210 thank him today. Somebody thank the Lord and 00:19:57.210 --> 00:20:03.430 bless his name. God, that's what I need. And 00:20:03.430 --> 00:20:05.289 God hears me. But here's the question to you 00:20:05.289 --> 00:20:08.130 today. Here's the question. Will you trust him? 00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:12.450 You say, well, why do I need to trust him? Because 00:20:12.450 --> 00:20:16.849 his answer may not come when you want it. Hello, 00:20:16.910 --> 00:20:20.329 somebody. Come on now. His answer may not come. 00:20:20.390 --> 00:20:25.329 And the answer may not be the one you want. Hallelujah. 00:20:26.450 --> 00:20:30.150 I think people forget that no is also an answer. 00:20:31.190 --> 00:20:33.170 Come on now, y 'all ain't with me here today. 00:20:35.309 --> 00:20:39.210 No is an answer as well. But will you trust him? 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:44.480 You can't return to sender. No, no, no, I'm going 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.799 to keep praying until I get a different answer. 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.240 Sometimes God's word is his word, his final, 00:20:53.299 --> 00:20:56.900 this is the answer. But will you trust him? Because 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:00.180 what if God is delaying the answer or prescribing 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:02.160 an answer that you don't like simply because 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.299 he's got something different in mind for you? 00:21:05.859 --> 00:21:08.720 Imagine if God answered every prayer you asked 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:16.559 for. what our lives look like. Prayers that we 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:19.700 prayed and when it was more our flesh and our 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:24.619 spirit that was guiding the request. Lord, I 00:21:24.619 --> 00:21:30.720 want him to be six foot three and salon hair 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:35.480 and green eyes. Can God give it to you? Hallelujah. 00:21:37.220 --> 00:21:39.759 God, I want the job to be right there in the 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:42.819 corner. Can God do all this? Absolutely he can. 00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:45.339 But God said, that's not maybe what you, that's 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:48.059 what you want, but that's not what you need. 00:21:50.980 --> 00:21:54.019 Hallelujah. I might bless you with somebody with 00:21:54.019 --> 00:22:00.059 one leg shorter than the other. You know, but 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:04.130 loves the Lord. and serves him and is faithful 00:22:04.130 --> 00:22:06.190 to his word and his death. Come on, I don't know 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:08.150 who that's for, but I'm just going to throw it 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:14.230 out there. You're going to look for the one person 00:22:14.230 --> 00:22:18.910 with the one legs. Is that him, Lord? Hallelujah. 00:22:19.470 --> 00:22:22.230 The question is, will you trust him? Someone 00:22:22.230 --> 00:22:25.569 say trust. All right. Will you trust him when 00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:30.150 you pray? Secondly, David tasted the goodness 00:22:30.150 --> 00:22:36.920 of a God. Who delivers. Oh, hallelujah. He testified 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:40.599 in verses four and six. Again, we're still in 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:45.119 Psalm 34. The Lord, he said, delivered me from 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:52.019 all my fears. He delivered me and he saved him 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:57.759 of all of his troubles. David's deliverance in 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:03.460 Gath was not a picture perfect moment. Don't 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:08.279 forget, he was pretending to be a madman, drooling 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:13.079 on himself, scratching on gates, rolling around, 00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:17.640 humiliating himself just to escape the hands 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:21.279 of his enemies. This was, if I can frame it this 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:25.420 way, one of the most awkward deliverances we've 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:29.440 seen in Scripture. This was awkward, uncomfortable, 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:36.220 messy even. But yet, it was still deliverance. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:42.160 Not every deliverance is going to look and be 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:46.539 neat and tidy. Can I tell you that sometimes 00:23:46.539 --> 00:23:52.900 deliverance is messy? Hello, somebody. Deliverance 00:23:52.900 --> 00:24:00.380 is messy. And this is where we struggle. We want 00:24:00.380 --> 00:24:10.230 victory. Without appearing weak? Silly. We want 00:24:10.230 --> 00:24:16.910 victory, but we want it our way. Hello. We want 00:24:16.910 --> 00:24:23.289 it to look like our version of victory. Let me 00:24:23.289 --> 00:24:27.130 ask you this. What if Naaman refused to dip in 00:24:27.130 --> 00:24:33.000 the Jordan because it was embarrassing? He would 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.339 have died a leper and missed his deliverance. 00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:43.220 What if Israel refused to march around the walls 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:48.240 of Jericho? Because this looks silly and undignified. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.720 We look like we don't know what we're doing. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:54.940 What if they refused to do that? I'll tell you 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:57.059 what would have happened. The walls would still 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:01.579 be standing today. I wonder what walls are still 00:25:01.579 --> 00:25:04.380 standing in someone's life today simply because 00:25:04.380 --> 00:25:08.559 you don't want to risk humbling or humiliating 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:10.720 yourself. You don't want to risk being vulnerable. 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:13.599 You don't want to risk even the appearance of 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.480 being in need or being weak. I wonder what walls 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:18.680 stand in the life of the believer simply because 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:20.759 they won't be obedient to doing the thing that 00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:24.119 God wants us to do, needs us to do, simply because 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:26.720 it doesn't line up, it doesn't match what we 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:32.069 have in our minds. Like, Lord, you want me to, 00:25:32.130 --> 00:25:37.049 this is going to. Make me uncomfortable. This 00:25:37.049 --> 00:25:40.609 is gonna make things awkward. It's gonna be messy. 00:25:40.769 --> 00:25:43.910 It's not going to be clean and tidy, but this 00:25:43.910 --> 00:25:47.029 is how God works sometimes. If you want the goodness 00:25:47.029 --> 00:25:49.529 of God, then you need to trust that sometimes 00:25:49.529 --> 00:25:53.769 God does things in unconventional ways, that 00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:56.549 his ways are higher than ours. Amen, somebody? 00:25:56.910 --> 00:26:01.569 And God does things in unusual ways and unconventional 00:26:01.569 --> 00:26:05.200 ways, but if we're willing to trust in him Trust, 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:12.460 someone say, trust the process. Friend, God wants 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.099 you to taste and see, but you need to trust. 00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:19.079 Well, this makes me uncomfortable, and this is 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.460 outside of my comfort zone, and this is not what 00:26:21.460 --> 00:26:24.839 I'm used to, and I'm just waiting for God to 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.079 do it the way he did it last time. But God's 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:30.079 trying to do something new and different, and 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.660 deliverance doesn't always look the same in every 00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:37.079 stage of our life. Sometimes deliverance comes 00:26:37.079 --> 00:26:40.680 at an altar, amen, but sometimes it comes somewhere 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:43.799 else. It could come in your car somewhere. Sometimes 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:46.779 deliverance happens with the layman. on of hands, 00:26:46.900 --> 00:26:49.480 but sometimes, from the preacher, but sometimes 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.180 deliverance happens when you lay hands on your 00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:54.319 own head, you know, and you pray for yourself. 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:58.599 Sometimes it happens in a conversation. Sometimes 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:03.000 it happens in prayer. God has a myriad ways of 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.660 delivering us out of our trouble, but you know 00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:08.420 what we gotta be, church? We gotta be open -minded. 00:27:10.349 --> 00:27:13.349 To understand that God has more than one way 00:27:13.349 --> 00:27:16.930 to speak, more than one way to move. And so maybe 00:27:16.930 --> 00:27:19.569 I've had spiritual tunnel vision. I want God 00:27:19.569 --> 00:27:22.869 to do things on my terms. And God said, look 00:27:22.869 --> 00:27:24.789 at the deliverance I'm going to bring to you. 00:27:24.849 --> 00:27:27.069 It's going to be a little unorthodox. It's going 00:27:27.069 --> 00:27:29.230 to be a little different. It's going to get you 00:27:29.230 --> 00:27:31.769 out of your comfort zone. And you might have 00:27:31.769 --> 00:27:34.609 to risk looking a little silly like the children 00:27:34.609 --> 00:27:37.210 of Israel did on that day when they marched around 00:27:37.210 --> 00:27:39.750 the walls of Jericho. But if you'll trust me, 00:27:39.950 --> 00:27:42.109 On day seven, you're going to see the hand of 00:27:42.109 --> 00:27:44.609 God move in your life. You're going to see deliverance. 00:27:44.650 --> 00:27:46.410 You're going to see those walls coming down. 00:27:46.529 --> 00:27:48.650 I don't know if there's somebody here today got 00:27:48.650 --> 00:27:50.829 some walls in your life that need to come down. 00:27:50.970 --> 00:27:57.109 I'm asking you to trust God today. Be obedient. 00:27:58.569 --> 00:28:02.069 The goodness of a God who delivers. That's why 00:28:02.069 --> 00:28:05.710 David could say, I have tasted. And now I have 00:28:05.710 --> 00:28:09.549 seen that God. was good to me in the way that 00:28:09.549 --> 00:28:14.150 he delivered me from the hands of my enemies. 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:20.130 And it wasn't pretty. It wasn't cute. I can't 00:28:20.130 --> 00:28:23.329 post it on Instagram. There's nothing flashy 00:28:23.329 --> 00:28:30.109 or fancy about it. But God has set me free. Whoo, 00:28:30.289 --> 00:28:33.390 hallelujah. Don't be ashamed of the places that 00:28:33.390 --> 00:28:36.380 God has brought you from. You gotta, when you 00:28:36.380 --> 00:28:40.880 tell your testimony, you gotta, hallelujah. Don't 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:45.019 spare us the, you know, the ugly part. No, share 00:28:45.019 --> 00:28:48.289 it all. Because that might be the thing that's 00:28:48.289 --> 00:28:50.349 going to help somebody else and deliver them 00:28:50.349 --> 00:28:53.690 so they understand that, hey, if God can do it 00:28:53.690 --> 00:28:56.509 for you, then he can do it for me. And it's going 00:28:56.509 --> 00:28:59.349 to look a little different. But God is with me. 00:28:59.390 --> 00:29:02.710 God can do it. So don't be ashamed. Don't run 00:29:02.710 --> 00:29:06.650 from it. Don't hide. David put it out there. 00:29:06.730 --> 00:29:09.390 He said, man, this is how it happened. Man, I'm 00:29:09.390 --> 00:29:12.250 not too proud of it. It wasn't my best moment, 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:15.829 but God was good. I saw the goodness of God. 00:29:15.789 --> 00:29:18.950 God, in my life, he spared me from my enemies. 00:29:19.089 --> 00:29:21.529 Amen. Somebody give God a hand in praise today. 00:29:21.670 --> 00:29:27.349 Hallelujah. Let me move along today. He takes 00:29:27.349 --> 00:29:28.849 you to the goodness of a God who transforms. 00:29:30.309 --> 00:29:35.089 God's goodness changed David in verse 5, Psalm 00:29:35.089 --> 00:29:39.730 34 again. He talks about the transformation in 00:29:39.730 --> 00:29:45.549 the way that he describes himself. The way that 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:48.750 he describes in the third person, those that 00:29:48.750 --> 00:29:50.529 are being transformed, he said, they looked to 00:29:50.529 --> 00:29:56.549 him and were radiant. And their faces were not 00:29:56.549 --> 00:30:01.869 ashamed. You see, when you look to God, something 00:30:01.869 --> 00:30:07.869 changes. You cannot be in his presence and something 00:30:07.869 --> 00:30:12.009 not change. His goodness doesn't just bring you 00:30:12.009 --> 00:30:16.289 out of trouble. But his goodness uses trouble 00:30:16.289 --> 00:30:22.349 to transform you into the better version of who 00:30:22.349 --> 00:30:27.450 he called you to be. His goodness doesn't just 00:30:27.450 --> 00:30:33.369 deliver us from trouble, but his goodness shapes 00:30:33.369 --> 00:30:39.970 us, molds us, changes us through our trouble. 00:30:42.819 --> 00:30:45.160 For somebody here today, the best thing that 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:47.420 could have ever happened to you is the trial 00:30:47.420 --> 00:30:55.099 that you wish had never happened to you. Pastor, 00:30:55.220 --> 00:30:57.079 how in the world are you telling me that was 00:30:57.079 --> 00:30:59.619 the goodness of God? Because without that trial, 00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:05.339 you wouldn't have learned patience the way you 00:31:05.339 --> 00:31:08.259 did. You wouldn't have learned forgiveness the 00:31:08.259 --> 00:31:10.220 way you did. You wouldn't have learned grace 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:15.829 the way you did. The trial itself, the trouble 00:31:15.829 --> 00:31:20.849 changed you. It transformed you. Amen, somebody. 00:31:22.130 --> 00:31:27.390 His goodness doesn't just bring you out, but 00:31:27.390 --> 00:31:33.410 it brings something out of you. Hallelujah. I 00:31:33.410 --> 00:31:37.289 thank God today that he doesn't leave me the 00:31:37.289 --> 00:31:41.529 way that he found me. Oh, hallelujah. Don't waste 00:31:41.529 --> 00:31:44.569 your trial by coming out of your trial the same 00:31:44.569 --> 00:31:49.170 person you were when you went into it. Don't 00:31:49.170 --> 00:31:53.410 waste your pain by coming out bitter and not 00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:58.069 better. When you truly encounter the goodness 00:31:58.069 --> 00:32:02.549 of God, you will walk away different than you 00:32:02.549 --> 00:32:06.930 were before. Hallelujah. You recall Jacob when 00:32:06.930 --> 00:32:11.220 he wrestled with God. He said, He said, I'm not 00:32:11.220 --> 00:32:18.319 going to let you go until you bless me. And God 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:21.220 blessed him. But before he blessed him, he touched 00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:26.519 the socket of his hip and he broke his leg. And 00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:30.559 from that day forward, Jacob walked with a limp. 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:32.220 Hey, there's that brother with the short leg 00:32:32.220 --> 00:32:37.920 right there. I found him. Now he's walking with 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:42.730 a limp. He's walking away different because of 00:32:42.730 --> 00:32:45.710 his experience with the goodness of God. You 00:32:45.710 --> 00:32:48.109 see, we want God to bless us, but we don't want 00:32:48.109 --> 00:32:53.230 to walk with a limp. And I question, I question 00:32:53.230 --> 00:32:56.990 this. I question whether it was truly from the 00:32:56.990 --> 00:33:00.769 Lord. If your blessing doesn't change you, I 00:33:00.769 --> 00:33:03.089 question whether that blessing was from God. 00:33:03.910 --> 00:33:06.950 Because every time God blesses you, every time 00:33:06.950 --> 00:33:10.089 he endows goodness upon your life and he favors 00:33:10.089 --> 00:33:13.869 you in some way, that blessing always comes with 00:33:13.869 --> 00:33:21.609 change. Your favor needs to change how you walk. 00:33:21.809 --> 00:33:24.630 And so David realized the goodness of the Lord 00:33:24.630 --> 00:33:27.109 in his life. He said, he changed me. This is 00:33:27.109 --> 00:33:30.630 echoed in Romans 2. I'll be just a few more moments. 00:33:30.650 --> 00:33:36.829 In Romans 2 in verse 4. Paul writes, do you despise 00:33:36.829 --> 00:33:39.509 the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and 00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:42.990 long -suffering, not knowing that the goodness 00:33:42.990 --> 00:33:48.730 of God leads you to repentance? Hey, I need you 00:33:48.730 --> 00:33:52.450 to understand the goodness of God isn't just 00:33:52.450 --> 00:33:56.150 for us to feel good. God has been good to us 00:33:56.150 --> 00:33:59.829 so that we can change and so that his goodness 00:33:59.829 --> 00:34:03.500 will lead us to repentance. Hello, somebody. 00:34:04.220 --> 00:34:08.179 It draws us to change. The goodness of God should 00:34:08.179 --> 00:34:12.400 lead us to the holiness of God. Holiness and 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:14.780 separation from the world. You say, well, what 00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:16.400 does that have to do with good? Because when 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:19.800 God has been good to you, you want to be good 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:24.110 to God. Hallelujah. I said, when God has been 00:34:24.110 --> 00:34:27.389 good to you and has loved you, you want to be 00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:31.130 good to him and love him in return by giving 00:34:31.130 --> 00:34:33.690 him your whole life. You see, when you taste 00:34:33.690 --> 00:34:36.369 the goodness of God, it changes your appetite. 00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:39.489 All of a sudden, you lose your appetite for sin. 00:34:39.690 --> 00:34:42.489 When you've tasted his mercy and you've tasted 00:34:42.489 --> 00:34:44.869 his love. Is there a witness in the house today? 00:34:44.949 --> 00:34:49.170 And you've tasted his goodness. Sin loses its 00:34:49.170 --> 00:34:58.610 appetite. People who keep falling into the same 00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:01.230 sin, keep going back to the same habit, to the 00:35:01.230 --> 00:35:04.190 same thing from their past. It's not that the 00:35:04.190 --> 00:35:06.869 sin is so attractive to you, it's so appealing. 00:35:06.989 --> 00:35:10.090 It's that you have yet to truly taste and see 00:35:10.090 --> 00:35:14.389 how good God has been in your life. Because if 00:35:14.389 --> 00:35:19.429 you've ever tasted, you would lose your appetite. 00:35:20.690 --> 00:35:24.360 Oh, my God. Have you ever tasted something at 00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:26.500 a restaurant and you thought it was good until 00:35:26.500 --> 00:35:30.559 you tasted something better? I'm like, man, this 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:32.199 whole time, I thought that was the best there 00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:34.920 was. And someone takes it to a, you thought those 00:35:34.920 --> 00:35:36.460 were the best tacos there were, and someone takes 00:35:36.460 --> 00:35:38.119 you to even better tacos. Man, I'm getting somebody 00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:42.159 hungry now. Hallelujah. And a part of you is 00:35:42.159 --> 00:35:45.000 like, wow, that was good, but how can I go back 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:48.599 to that now? I have tasted and seen that the 00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:52.079 Lord is good. I can't go back to that now because 00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:54.420 you know what happens? You raise your standard. 00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:56.980 Oh my God, I'm going to preach in this place 00:35:56.980 --> 00:36:00.440 now. You raise your standard. And I know when 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:02.280 we hear that term, we think of just talking about 00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.559 the standards of our holiness, principles and 00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:08.340 all that. That's part of it. When you taste and 00:36:08.340 --> 00:36:11.059 see that the Lord is good, you raise the bar. 00:36:11.300 --> 00:36:14.039 Now there are certain things I can't do anymore. 00:36:14.139 --> 00:36:17.280 Not because somebody told me I can't. But because 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:19.900 I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good 00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:24.079 and that serving the Lord is nothing like anything 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:29.980 this world can offer. See, this is what I want 00:36:29.980 --> 00:36:32.119 for my children. This is what I want for every 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:34.860 one of you. I don't just need you to understand 00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:37.679 that the world is bad and that sin is bad. I 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:40.300 need you. We don't just need to preach a message 00:36:40.300 --> 00:36:43.480 of how sinful the world is. We need to preach 00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:47.480 a message of how good our God is. And for us 00:36:47.480 --> 00:36:51.000 to understand that there is nothing sweeter and 00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:54.219 nothing better and nothing more satisfying than 00:36:54.219 --> 00:36:57.000 being a servant and a child of Almighty. There 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:01.239 is nothing that can compare. My God, I wish I 00:37:01.239 --> 00:37:04.139 had a witness in the house. There is nothing 00:37:04.139 --> 00:37:10.920 that can compare. That's why Joseph wouldn't 00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:13.889 go with Potter for his wife. That's why he turned 00:37:13.889 --> 00:37:16.010 down the offer, not because she wasn't attracted, 00:37:16.230 --> 00:37:19.050 not because, but because he had already tasted 00:37:19.050 --> 00:37:21.670 and seen. I've got a destiny in God. God has 00:37:21.670 --> 00:37:24.250 been too good. He didn't deliver me out of the 00:37:24.250 --> 00:37:27.369 pit so I can fail in the palace. He didn't deliver 00:37:27.369 --> 00:37:30.289 me from the hands of my brother so I can fumble 00:37:30.289 --> 00:37:33.530 on the one yard line and not make it over. God 00:37:33.530 --> 00:37:37.829 has been too good. And I have tasted and seen 00:37:37.829 --> 00:37:42.750 his mercy in my life. I have tasted and seen. 00:37:43.250 --> 00:37:46.369 I have. Brother, if you could come and help me 00:37:46.369 --> 00:37:50.090 here at the keyboard. I have. And this is what 00:37:50.090 --> 00:37:58.050 we need to do. At the very root of going back 00:37:58.050 --> 00:37:59.610 to Adam and Eve, remember, because this verse 00:37:59.610 --> 00:38:04.590 undoes what they did. At the very root. of their 00:38:04.590 --> 00:38:07.090 problem. It's not that the tree of the knowledge 00:38:07.090 --> 00:38:10.150 of good and evil looked pleasant and appetizing 00:38:10.150 --> 00:38:13.349 and ooh, look how shiny it is, look how awesome. 00:38:13.409 --> 00:38:17.969 It wasn't how appealing the tree of the knowledge 00:38:17.969 --> 00:38:21.369 of good and evil was. It's that they didn't fully 00:38:21.369 --> 00:38:26.889 appreciate how satisfying and eternally fulfilling 00:38:26.889 --> 00:38:34.320 the tree of life was. Because once you have tasted 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:41.219 and seen that the Lord is good. You might see 00:38:41.219 --> 00:38:45.900 that tree over there. Why would I leave this 00:38:45.900 --> 00:38:53.420 tree? Why would I walk away from God? I know 00:38:53.420 --> 00:38:56.059 I'm helping somebody right now. Why would I turn 00:38:56.059 --> 00:38:58.360 my back on God? Why would I stop serving him? 00:38:58.539 --> 00:39:02.719 Why would I put my... Why would I walk away from 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:05.199 my ministry? Why would I walk away from my gift? 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:07.179 Why would I walk away from my relationship with 00:39:07.179 --> 00:39:12.960 God and his church? Why would I do that? When 00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:17.179 the goodness that God has given me here far outweighs, 00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:22.539 far outlasts, far outshines, far outdoes whatever 00:39:22.539 --> 00:39:27.500 is being offered to me over there. Would you 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:31.780 stand with me at this hour? Hallelujah. I want 00:39:31.780 --> 00:39:33.539 to give you this last thing, that the goodness 00:39:33.539 --> 00:39:37.579 of God gives us a taste of a God who protects. 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:44.300 Oh, David saw. At the end, he saw how the Lord 00:39:44.300 --> 00:39:49.500 was good in his life. He saw how the Lord had 00:39:49.500 --> 00:39:52.840 done all these wonderful things for him, but 00:39:52.840 --> 00:39:59.820 he came to this revelation. He said, the Lord, 00:40:02.090 --> 00:40:07.050 has a protection program. The angel of the Lord 00:40:07.050 --> 00:40:15.909 encamps around all those who fear him. David 00:40:15.909 --> 00:40:21.869 realized that God had been protecting him. Oh, 00:40:21.869 --> 00:40:27.190 my God. That God had placed angels around his 00:40:27.190 --> 00:40:31.070 life. You know that God has assigned an angel 00:40:31.070 --> 00:40:38.920 to you? Some of y 'all giving your angels, making 00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:42.880 them work overtime, driving without a seatbelt 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:48.320 and all that kind of stuff. But God's got an 00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:51.679 angel. The Bible says that the angel of the Lord 00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:57.340 encamps. And David realized that even in my lowest 00:40:57.340 --> 00:41:01.820 moments, even when I was doing my own thing and 00:41:01.820 --> 00:41:05.590 I was... trying it my way, and I was acting up, 00:41:05.650 --> 00:41:13.590 and God was so good to me. Oh, my Lord. He didn't 00:41:13.590 --> 00:41:17.909 use it against me. He didn't turn his back on 00:41:17.909 --> 00:41:21.869 me. But maybe he remembered prayers that I had 00:41:21.869 --> 00:41:25.889 prayed prior to that. Maybe it was just the fact 00:41:25.889 --> 00:41:29.090 that he had already anointed me, that I was his 00:41:29.090 --> 00:41:37.030 own, but God suffered. fit to keep me. Oh, hallelujah. 00:41:37.050 --> 00:41:41.469 To preserve me. Now, David didn't realize it 00:41:41.469 --> 00:41:44.849 in the moment, but when he came through on the 00:41:44.849 --> 00:41:48.170 other side, he looked back over his life and 00:41:48.170 --> 00:41:50.869 that's when he could say, I was young, but now 00:41:50.869 --> 00:41:56.630 I'm old. But I've never seen the righteous forsaken 00:41:56.630 --> 00:42:06.739 or is seen begging for bread. Can I tell you 00:42:06.739 --> 00:42:10.619 that the goodness of God who protects will not 00:42:10.619 --> 00:42:14.380 dawn on you. You may not fully realize it until 00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:18.400 later. Can I tell you, you don't understand this 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:23.400 by what you see, but by what you don't see. You 00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:25.579 don't know how many car accidents God saved you 00:42:25.579 --> 00:42:30.099 from. If you're only going to serve him based 00:42:30.099 --> 00:42:32.639 off what you see, you're going to miss it. You 00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:34.800 don't know how many car accidents God saved you 00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:41.440 from. You don't know how many situations God 00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:43.980 delivered you from. Things that you never even 00:42:43.980 --> 00:42:47.019 saw. Oh, in the middle of the night, how many 00:42:47.019 --> 00:42:49.260 of the burglar was going to stop at your house, 00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:52.179 but somehow it just kept going to the next house. 00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:54.760 You don't know how many disease was going to 00:42:54.760 --> 00:42:56.639 hit your house, and you didn't feel it, and you 00:42:56.639 --> 00:43:03.420 didn't see it, but God was protecting you. witness 00:43:03.420 --> 00:43:07.159 here today you don't see the weapons that didn't 00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:09.820 prosper against you you don't see the angel that 00:43:09.820 --> 00:43:13.260 he assigned to you in the midnight hour but God 00:43:13.260 --> 00:43:18.280 was with you and now I see that the Lord is good 00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:20.599 why don't we lift our hands and just give God 00:43:20.599 --> 00:43:25.719 some glory today thank you God for your goodness 00:43:25.719 --> 00:43:41.860 thank you for your goodness mercy has never failed 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:46.619 me i want the praise team to i want you to come 00:43:46.619 --> 00:43:48.579 and i want you to render your song to the lord 00:43:48.579 --> 00:43:51.219 and i want everybody right now under the sound 00:43:51.219 --> 00:43:54.260 of my voice maybe this message didn't get you 00:43:54.260 --> 00:43:57.059 running and shouting today maybe you don't feel 00:43:57.059 --> 00:43:59.099 like swinging from these chandeliers today in 00:43:59.099 --> 00:44:01.900 excitement but somebody today needs a revelation 00:44:01.900 --> 00:44:05.579 of the goodness of god because god has been good 00:44:05.579 --> 00:44:24.179 to you all of your life You didn't deserve it. 00:44:25.019 --> 00:44:28.820 He spared you. I don't know about you, but I'm 00:44:28.820 --> 00:44:35.599 thankful that God kept me. Some of you have been 00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:39.019 in church for a long time. You may not have tasted 00:44:39.019 --> 00:44:41.940 of the world so much. You didn't come out of 00:44:41.940 --> 00:44:45.820 drug addiction, alcoholism, and things like that. 00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:48.099 You say, well, what can I possibly say? You have 00:44:48.099 --> 00:44:51.739 a testimony, brother or sister. And your testimony, 00:44:52.239 --> 00:44:53.519 is that he kept you.